Dumb dog

I had washed out a plastic container for the children to collect dandelions and pine cones. The container was left outside when the children came in for lunch, and it was over an hour later that I noticed that Kip had gotten himself into a bit of trouble.

I was just going to take pictures, but Hyrum took pity on poor Kip and pulled the container off.

Clara's haircut

Gum. It started with gum.

While at the craft store I gave the older children gum as a reward for being good. Unfortunately the "good" wore off shortly after the gumballs were dispensed. Hyrum ended up in the back of the cart, right behind Clara, where apparently he liberally applied gum to her hair.

(This is the hair I cut off, after cutting off the parts with gum. The gummy parts were the longest hairs, I didn't think to save them)

I didn't notice until we were home. Due to allergies, I can't use peanut butter to get out chewing gum, and I wasn't patient enough to look online for another remedy, (apparently ice water and vegetable oil are effective) so I cut my baby's hair off. About two inches.

Her hair was unusually long anyway, so cutting it wasn't a great loss. But it still shocks me to see my baby without her shoulder length hair.

In the picture below you can see how long her hair used to be. It's a tad tricky to see because most of it is blowing behind her, but she had LONG hair for a 7 month old!

After putting the two older children to bed, I spent half an hour listening intently as Clara babbled, cooed and growled about her views on life, occasionally emphasizing her words by putting her toes in her mouth. I love my baby!

Incidentally, we both agreed that we'd never vote for a Presidential candidate that starred on a reality TV show. That takes out two of 'em. =0)

My baby Gourmet

Clara likes food.

Not jars of food. Not mashed up food. REAL food. People food.

By the time she turned 7 months she was eating:

muffins

broccoli

green beans

scrambled eggs

rotini pasta

apple slices

potato cubes

whole slices of bread

cereal and milk (like Kix or Chex)

graham crackers

animal crackers

ritz crackers

spaghetti

cookie dough (rare occasion, but boy does she remember it)

cheese

yogurt

ice cream

cottage cheese

pear slices

pizza

rice

You get the picture. It's not age appropriate, but she insists upon it, chews it well, and is very eager to eat what the family is having. So we let her. At least she's not picky, so long as mom and dad will eat it, it must be good!

I don't think I even gave Hyrum rice cereal until he was 6 months old. I guess each baby is different.

We don't let her eat much meat though, and that includes raw lovebird.

Zazu won't often sit on her shoulder for long, something about the grabby fingers.

Both Zazu and Kip are pretty happy about having a baby in the house. All sorts of good stuff stuck to high chairs, walkers, bibs, fingers, or thrown to the floor!

Kip and Zazu looking appreciative.

Words of Wisdom

On the way home from church Brielle was telling us what she learned:

Brielle: "Mom did you know that wine is bad for you? We learned all the things that are bad for you....like coffee and smoking..."

Hyrum: "And fire. Fire is bad for you."

Brielle: "NO! We're only saying things you shouldn't eat or drink!"

After a pause Hyrum says: "You're not supposed to eat fire."

Too true. =0)

Sisters

Clara-bee at 7 months

I love this little girl!

Clara is the smartest baby (I know, I know, all moms say that) but she is! I love watching her figure things out. She is very determined and will focus on one task for a considerable time, whether it's manipulating an object, or getting something to stay on top of her head, or trying to pick up the bird... she doesn't lose interest or get distracted. And she's DANG observant!! Especially for only being 7 months.

Not to mention she's delightful and the whole family adores her, even Hyrum, who took some time to come around. She used to not be worthy of his attention but now he thinks she's fun to play with.

Quick! The Sun is out!!

Brielle recently learned how to pump her legs to make the swing go by herself. She practices a lot. Rain or shine. But we prefer shine!

These pictures were taken several "swings" apart from each other, and it's funny that she has the EXACT same expression in all of them. (Note her hands are in different places in each picture but her face stays the same)

Clara loves swinging.

April Fools!!

The first thing I did for April Fool's day was put cockroaches in the bathroom. Fake ones of course. However, they look extremely real, and at 5:00 AM they looked authentic enough for Russell to smack one off the wall with a magazine and kill it. I had to glue both of my cockroaches back together later. ;)

Worth it.

Unfortunately it's the prank that keeps on pranking, it's been a week since then and every day Russell and I re-hide the cockroaches for the other person to find. One morning I found one clinging to the shower door, INSIDE the shower. I may have gasped. Just a little.

And then we have the Toilet Monster, courtesy of my Mother who brought him to me in August and I've been hiding him away until this very important holiday!

Needless to say, the children LOVED the Toilet Monster. They'd like to keep him in there all the time.

We had the missionaries come over for dinner that night. I didn't do anything TOO big, just a couple little pranks.

Sushi made from Rice Krispy treats and gummi worms, wrapped in fruit by the foot.

And my favorite: jello in the glasses, to look like Kool-Aid. They appreciated it. Poor Dears hadn't even remembered it was April Fool's day. Apparently their Mothers didn't do anything to commemorate that very important day.

Sad.